Plus One
by FroilanBard
Summary: A story of the Gullwings as they journey through Spira looking for spheres in the hopes of finding Yuna's long lost love, Tidus. Along the way, they encounter a mysterious young man who accompanies them in their adventures.
1. Prologue

**A/N: This is my take of the sequel to the much acclaimed Final Fantasy X (sans Tidus). I've written this quite a while now (and still not finished), I've only really mustered the courage to post it now. I'm writing for my enjoyment but I do hope you guys like it. :) Now, I should shut up. Please do enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Alas, I own not any of the characters nor the main arc of the story. The OCs (and discrepancies) are all mine. Heh.**

**Prologue**

"_You there!" He heard a man's voice not far in the distance. _

_He seemed to be ordering around his subordinates evident in the amount of authority in his voice. His bellow echoed throughout the mountain._

Where am I? _Was all he could think of. His body ached all over. Not a single muscle was spared the torment and agony that was too much to disregard. He tried to open his eyes. He felt… cold. _

_Was he submerged in snow? He mustered all of the strength that he had at that moment and opened his eyes. Although barely. All he could make out of the image before him was a stout man now crouched, his back to him. He was even bigger than he had thought. He donned a blue armour and carried a thick and enormous shell with various imprints on his back._

Methinks this man took the meaning of torture all too literally._ He thought._

"_You! Yes, you!" annoyance crept into the man's voice. He flinched at the loudness… or tried to. His body was too weak to even process reflex actions._

"_You go and try to go into that cave. Look for the sphere! It's round! Gets it?"_

_He heard hurried footsteps muffled by the snow on the ground; seemed eager to follow the man's orders as if to avoid reprimand._

"_Ahhh. Let's see what we've gots in here," the man started. He was still crouching beside him—oblivious to the state of the figure that lay half-conscious on the ground blanketed by snow._

_He felt thick hands examine his pockets._

What the… is… _His mind, too full of processing the wounds and the cold, could not fathom what was happening._

"_Hrm. No valuables te loot? This is unbelievable. No spheres either. Just when this defenceless body is staring me in the face like that. I don't even have to fights! Useless."_

_A moment later, he felt the hefty man's scourge the insides of his pockets. He felt around._

"_Ahh. This ring should do it!" he exclaimed. His gaze distracted by another valuable lying on the ground. "Oooh, another one!" he said excitedly._

_He tried to speak. As if to say that no one has the right to touch it._

No… Not… the sword.

"_This is much bettah that I had thought," he exclaimed while holding the scabbard. _

_He proceeded to touch the hilt…_

_A pause._

_The larger figure loitered for a second and a moment later scrambled from the ground and ran off. There was no telling what he had seen or what he felt. But he took flight all too suddenly as the rapier fell to the ground; eager to be as far away from the source of horror as possible._

_With this, all of his remaining strength finally failed him and he slipped into unconsciousness._


	2. Chapter I

**Chapter I**

"Are you sure, Yuna?" Paine's voice broke the icy cold silence that has since lingered (as the White Fangs' pyreflies loitered in their immediate surrounding).

Paine's question was met with a solid nod from the ex-High Summoner.

"Yes, I'm sure."

In front of them lay a figure of an incapacitated man. His face burrowed in the icy snow. His tattered clothes served as stark evidence of the fiends' rampage. Blood stained the snow and ice beneath the lean figure. They could not make out any more of his physical features as his body was rife with fresh wounds that only reminded them of the brutality of the fiends that have now permeated Spira.

They could see clearly that he had pale white skin—albeit unsure if it was just the snow or lack of blood.

They could only imagine the pain that he was in. If he was still alive, that is.

Rikku approached the man's body and pressed her fingers on his neck; checking to see a pulse. Or any indication, at the very least. She shivered once her fingers were burrowed in the snow. It didn't help that a cold gust made its way through the sides of Mt. Gagazet. (Or the fact, that she is scantily dressed.)

"Hmm. At least he's alive," Rikku said, her voice devoid of any form of enthusiasm that seemed to be ever present in the young Al Bhed thief. Needless to say, she was sombre.

The man was alive, yes. But barely. With the condition he was in, he was, as Paine had put it casually, _half-dead_. Nonetheless, as far as the warrior was concerned, he was as good as dead.

And what good was a dead man to them anyway?

"Oooh," Rikku let out a worried sound, "Yunie, we can't just leave him here like this!" She put out her arm to emphasise the point she was making but her gaze was mostly focussed on Paine; clearly, the man's condition was worthy of pity.

Paine let out a hoarse 'hmph'. Yuna and Rikku tried their best to ignore their companion's aloofness and her supposed approach to the situation. They knew better than to provoke the crimson-eyed warrior out of her demeanour. Even so, they knew that they wouldn't get any response that they would like to hear.

Out of the corner of the warrior's eye, her gaze lingered on the sword lying not far from the body. It was like nothing that she has encountered over Spira—an indication that this man seemed to be from somewhere… distant. It was a thin and slender blade unlike hers or the swords that she had seen; although it was long, she didn't think much of its strength. The scabbard was imprinted with strange signs that she did not recognise. Nonetheless, the cup-shaped hilt adorned with unfamiliar signs was mostly what caught her attention. It was embellished with what seemed like metal rings as if to protect the hand wielding the sword. What made Paine grimace at the sight was the fact that the rings surrounding the hilt were garnished with thorns.

Out of mere curiosity, she crouched to pick it up.

_No wonder this man was easily crushed by the fiends. This is nothing but a twig. Useless._

As she touched the hilt, trying to avoid the thorns, she felt an unexpected yet tremendous surge of grief flowing through her. It travelled from one end to the other. She felt an incredible amount of sadness being freed within her; memories of the carnage that she only associated with her past. It was as if the sword had its own… feelings and memories.

"_Please! Erik! Stop!" she heard a young woman's voice cry out to her. She felt her desperation but something within her stopped her from moving a limb._

_Who was Erik? Who was this woman now standing in front of her? She noticed the carnage surrounding her, numerous lifeless bodies lying on the ground—blood splattered everywhere, it was messy; but her eyes was fixed on the exquisite beauty of the woman—a welcoming sight amidst the massacre. She was the only one left alive, so it seemed. _

_Without any second thought, she felt her hand thrust the sword through the woman's body. Try as she might to stop the inevitable, she couldn't move. An incredible flow of force inside of her was too strong to ignore. She felt warm blood flow down her skin. The whole length of the blade pushed through the frail figure before her._

_She looked intently at the young woman. The warrior could see her eyes let out a tear. Her crimson eyes looked gloomy… and desperate. _

_Desperate to stop the bloody massacre of her people._

Red eyes… she has the same shade of crimson eyes as I do. Who is she?

"_Er..ik," with one last breath she moved her hands to cup her face. Paine felt remorse, guilt, sorrow, misery… all too much for her liking. But they were all gone in a flash. The stoic warrior almost felt her knees buckle beneath her._

_The next thing she knew she was laughing. But it wasn't her voice that she heard, it was someone else's. That of a man._

_That of a man whose thirst for power had led him to kill… she felt something within him beg for more souls to devour._

"Dr. P!" Rikku was frantically waving her hands to catch Paine's attention.

Rikku's voice snapped her back to Mt. Gagazet. Her stare intense—as if waiting for her to answer something.

"Hm?"

She realised that she has now let go of the hilt. Although she was still crouching on the ground.

_What the heck was that?_

"You okay?"

What happened next seemed too much for Paine. She felt wetness over her cheeks. She looked up and felt Rikku's stare intrusive. The feelings of immense sorrow and guilt stayed with her. As if she had just slain the person she had loved the most.

Confusion flowed within her. She wasn't even sure what she just saw.

Thankfully, Rikku's stare was momentarily interrupted before she could process that tears were running down the warrior's cheeks. Yuna shifted from one foot to the other.

The brunette thought for a split second and just as quickly as she contemplated the situation before them, she made up her mind.

Her head motioned a nod. Although answering to no one in particular this time.

"Yes, we will not leave this poor man alone out in this freezing mountain… Besides, we could use another muscle around the airship!"

"Yeah! The more the merrier, yes, Yunie?" Rikku enthusiastically jumped up and down.

To this, Paine let out a sigh; surrendering to her companions' naiveté. She knew all too well the futility of this situation.

"Yea. Add in another useless one. He doesn't look like he's keen on housekeeping to me," the warrior rolled her eyes but surrendered anyway.

Whatever Yuna did, she did not dare question it. It wasn't a matter of her being an ex-High Summoner or the saviour of Spira. It was something else. Although, as to what that something exactly was, Paine could not yet fathom.

And what were those flashing memories? She felt another tingle travel through her spine as her mind wandered to the monstrosity of the flashbacks that she had seen from touching his sword. Or was it his? Who was he? What were all of those bodies?

Who was that woman with the crimson eyes? What were all of those feelings welling up inside of her?

There was something about this stranger that she could not trust yet she was curious to find out.

Something about the sword… especially the memories associated with it.


	3. Chapter II

**Chapter II**

"Hey, drec kio muugc mega creeda!" Brother exclaimed. [Translation: Hey, this guy looks like shiite!]

His voice made the young man in front of them open an eyelid… albeit only barely. He was a mess—literally. He lost a hefty amount of blood from the snow as was evident by the pool of black staining the ground. Every single muscle in his body seemed to have been torn apart. The pain still lingering… this time much more excruciating than it was on the mountain—his mind now more awake to cope with it. It didn't help too that there was no cold to at least distract his mind's attention to.

"Brother!" Rikku frowned. She was trying to attend to the stranger. Armed with potions she had acquired from Barkeep, she tended to the wounds that were staring in front of her. She rubbed a handful of it. Slowly yet carefully applying it on the lean body—one by one on the cuts that were left by the plethora of fiends.

_Geez, this guy must have been through hell._ She thought. She pondered how someone could have survived such… random acts of hostility and so many at that.

Brother, ridden with curiosity, felt the need to push Rikku off her ground and check the young man lying on the bed for himself; his nose too close for comfort.

"Kad uvv, oui! Luimt oui pa y meddma suna teclnaad? Lyh'd oui caa E's pico rana!" she yelled. Annoyed at her good-for-nothing brother who was as helpful as a machina is without power. [Translation: Get off, you! Could you be a little more discreet? Can't you see I'm busy here!]

_Actually, the machina is waaaay better. At least there is a way to fix it. _

"Hmph! E fyc zicd lineuic. keja sa cusa cmylg! E's ouin pnudran!" he roared. [Translation: I was just curious. give me some slack! I'm your brother!]

He concentrated on the lean figure yet again. "His skin… Soooooo white." Brother's eyes widened at the observation. He was fascinated. Not one person in Spira possessed sterling white skin… well, apart from Paine… and Lulu.

"You done checking him out, oui banja? 'Coz I'm about to save this guy from leaving completely for the Farplane… so if you don't mind… otherwise I WILL cast Thundaga on you. And I assure you, I won't be the one scared to death of lightning this time," Rikku threatened, arms crossed on her chest. With this, Brother let out a whimper and stepped back, still sporting a frown on his face.

He didn't think that Rikku could be so… callous towards her own kin. But then again…

Like a child denied his favourite stuffed chocobo, he sauntered across the room and whined to Barkeep. The Hypello could only nod at Brother's rant in Al Bhed. It was interrupted, thankfully, as the electronic doors to the cabin opened—Paine and Yuna coming in from the bridge. Shinra must have finished his study on the sphere they have found within the ruins of Mt. Gagazet. They were hoping it would at least contain more clues that would lead them to you-know-who. After all of that running chasing Leblanc and her henchmen, it better be worth all of it.

Paine's gaze was mostly fixed on Brother. She maintained her stance for a split second.

"Hm. Shouldn't you be steering this ship… captain?" She smirked—making sure to stress the word 'captain.'

Brother winced at the sarcasm but stood his ground—not willing to be bullied around _his_ ship.

"I, Brother, am leader! So, I can do whatever I want!" he said, defiance painted across his features. He shifted his gaze to the figure standing next to Paine who had a, more or less, thoughtful look on her face.

"Yunaaa?" he asked. Brother was looking for reassurance. Well, he was the 'leader' when really he avoided the responsibilities like a plague and looked up to Yuna for guidance.

A smile on her face, Yuna let out an amused, "Sure."

_Some leader… my ass._ Paine thought as she moved to where Rikku was. Well, to put it simply, she couldn't really be bothered dealing with Brother right now—she was too eager to wake the young man sprawled on bits and pieces of cloth—by force, if need be.

The petite blonde was almost finish rubbing the last drop of potion on the small cuts tainting the pale white skin. It was almost as if it served as a canvas for fiends—big and small alike. She noticed all of the scars that one could only associate with various years and experience with war. There was a particularly big one—running from the nape of his neck across his torso. Thin as it started and thickening as it moved towards his chest—where the pressure of whatever weapon cut through him was focussed upon… a stark reminder of hostility. It seemed that not even a potion could heal it.

_Ooowie, that must have hurt… A lot._ She thought as she carefully traced it with her finger, feeling the tense muscles. She winced on the outside.

"Hmm?" Paine's thick voice resonated from directly behind Rikku. Her face almost resting on the thief's neck. She jolted and quickly retreated her fingers to herself—putting them on her mouth, feigning innocence.

The four of them were now surrounding the young man lying on the makeshift bed right across the bar in the cabin. They didn't think it was a good idea to put him upstairs especially since Paine was the only one who had to carry him all the way to the airship. Yuna and Rikku cheered her on. Buddy was busy navigating the ship, Brother was… well Brother—he was 'busy' steering the Celsius when really they could have been fine on autopilot; Shinra was 'just a kid'; and Barkeep was a Hypello—with the way he moved, they weren't too sure if there were enough bones in his body to endure the full weight of a human being. So Paine relegated herself to the task of carrying him. The decision was unanimous.

The injured young man opened his eyes fully to reveal a pair of scarlet irises. Granted he was startled—seeing another pair of crimson eyes staring intently back at him and a petite young blonde who had green ones—spiralling. He blinked once more, as if to convince himself that it was real.

Supporting himself on his elbow, he never felt much better in his life since his… well, ordeal on the mountain. He could feel his strength coming back and the blood flow to sustain his system. But his head still hurt.

"Who… who are you?" he asked, confusion laced in his voice. He rubbed his forehead as if that will make the drilling inside his head go away.

"We should ask you the same thing," Paine replied indifferently—all too aware of what she saw when she touched the sword. She couldn't let go of the images.

"Hey there!" Rikku started enthusiastically. Her gaze fixed on his blood red eyes.

He felt the warrior's pair of crimson eyes scrutinise him—he wasn't too sure if he should feel threatened or… offended. Either way, the silver-haired warrior didn't feel like letting go of him that easily.

"Hello!"

"So, err, what's your name?" Rikku asked; trying to distract him from Paine's intrusive glare.

"Uhmmmm," the young man replied, his free hand brushing through his jet black hair. "Good question!" he finally exclaimed, grinning.

"You… don't remember?" Yuna asked, surprised, both of her hands tucked behind her.

"Hmmm… Let's see-," he scratched his head and after a moment or two, gave out a shrug that pretty much told them all they needed to know.

"Oh," Yuna sighed. Paine snickered, somehow annoyed that she wasn't going to get anything much from this guy.

Rikku, meanwhile, was already brewing up names that she could use for him.

They all looked at each other and Brother got too close for comfort scutinising every single bit of him.

"Hmmm," he scratched his chin, the mohawk moving in tandem.

"Let me take a guess. Erik?" Paine whispered with a slight hint of annoyance.

He looked at her blankly. Slowly shaking his head, he spoke up, "Piers, actually." Paine let out a disappointed sigh.

"Ooooh, a name that starts with P! I like it!" Rikku declared. "I shall call you…" she paused—her hands on her chin.

"Ahh. P-cock!" Brother exclaimed out of nowhere.

"And who asked you, b-brain? And that'll be 'b' for bird," Paine gave him the glare.

Rikku stuck her tongue out at him and immediately went back to her thinking pose.

After a second or two of contemplation, she pointed her fingers as if a sign of victory.

"I shall call you… Mr. P!"

Paine rolled her eyes. Although, there was one small piece in her that was grateful that at least she wasn't the only in the house tortured by Rikku's lame nicknames.

Piers' grin grew even wider. He was now sitting upright in front of the crew. He was clearly amused at the sight before him.

"What about you? You haven't told me your names."

"Right… Right! Rikku!" the petite blonde declared, holding out her right arm for a shake. He met it with as much enthusiasm he could muster.

"I'm Yuna," the ex-High Summoner declared as she leaned towards him and shook his hand.

"This one's Paine," Rikku spoke as she pointed her hands at the silver-haired warrior standing next to her.

"As you can see… she is all toughie on the outside when really deep inside, she's one big softy!" she whispered—moving closer to him and away from the warrior's immediate hearing.

"What was that?" Paine asked coldly, tilting her head towards the young Al Bhed.

"Err… _Hehe_… Nothing," Rikku let out a nervous chuckle while pushing both her forefingers against each other.

"This one's… Brother," Yuna motioned her arm towards the mohawked Al Bhed. That was one of the few things that caught Piers' attention. He kept his gaze on his upright blond hair.

_He looks like… a chicken. _He let out a chortle inside.

"Nice to meeeet you. I am captain… of the ship! Leader… of the Gullwings!" he cried. Pausing for dramatic effect complete with all sorts of gestures. (Classic Brother style).

"…And the one behind the bar is our barkeeper. We call him Barkeep!" Yuna exclaimed finishing off the main round of introduction.

"Now that you've obviously gathered your strength back, spill it," Paine's cold and indifferent tone was as intense as her glare towards Piers. Brother stopped in his tracks. Yuna's face turned into a thoughtful frown.

"Huh?" Piers asked—confused, not knowing what she meant.

Yuna stepped closer to interrupt. She let out a small chuckle.

"What she meant by that was… what were you doing on the mountain alone? Where many fiends are on the loose?"

"Yeah! You know… you were as good as dead when we found you!" Rikku said.

Paine let out a sigh—her companions were a little too lenient. But then again, they didn't have the opportunity to witness what she saw. But she didn't want to alarm them. She felt that whatever it was, she had to investigate on her own.

"Oh… Hmmm… About that…" Now it was his turn to do his own thoughtful pose. "Now that you mention it…" Everyone was anticipating a valid reason with his every pause.

"…I don't really remember," he finally settled with a grin.

"You don't remember?" Paine raised an eyebrow, disbelief evident in her voice. She was hoping to get the answers to her numerous questions.

"Hmmm," he thought… harder this time. A flashback with that man carrying a big heavy shell came back to him.

"Well… I do remember waking up to a big man carrying this massive shell on his back touching me," he pondered at the validity of his memories since all he could think of that time was the agony.

"Big man?" Rikku asked.

"Shell?" Yuna, too, joined in.

"Ahhh, that must be Ormi!" Rikku said. She paused to comprehend the next few words that he said.

"Errr… What was he doing… touching you?" Rikku eyed Piers curiously.

"I wonder…" Paine chimed in.

"Ooooh. What's gotten into you, Paine? A minute ago you were ready to eat him and now you're interested?" the Al Bhed thief teased. She tried to be careful, though.

Paine shot her a glare. She obviously didn't catch on to the sarcasm. The warrior raised her hand on to her forehead and shook her head.

"Ahhh… You know him?" Piers started.

"Yep!" Yuna replied enthusiastically. "He's a sphere hunter although he's with Leblanc's syndicate. We're sphere hunters, too!"

"Sphere… hunter?" he asked, confusion written all over his face.

"Haven't you heard of spheres?" Rikku couldn't help but let out a giggle. "Where have you been, big guy?" she teased, poking his right arm.

Piers laughed… _Yeah… Where the hell have I been?_

"So, you don't remember what you were doing. This just keeps getting better and better." Paine mumbled under her breath. She turned on her heel for the exit.

"Hehe. He seems to have hit his head pretty hard. Ehh? What's wrong?" Rikku enquired.

"I'm going to get some air." With that, the warrior fully left the room. This seemed to alleviate the tension.

"So… hm, where am I exactly?"

Brother's eyes widened excitedly. With the silver-haired warrior gone, he felt he could freely act 'himself.' Hands on Piers' shoulder, he gripped them hard with the most serious face he could muster.

"This, my friend, is my _grand_ and _mighty_ airship! The Celsius! And I am leader! So, you will bow down to me!" he declared followed by an almost scary and ridiculous diabolical laugh that made Piers cringe inside.

He gave him a confused look; almost also to the point of branding him a heretic.

Rikku leaned over to Yuna and whispered, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was Brother who hit his head hard."

Yuna laughed. She looked at the tattered black pants that Piers was still wearing. The pants were barely intact—a third of the cloth was torn. Piers' now fully-healed body almost stood out.

"Which reminds me, you need new clothes!" she exclaimed, smiling.

Piers looked at himself and blushed. "Errr. Yea. That sounds like a good idea."

"No biggy!" Rikku exclaimed quite excitedly while doing her little dance. "We're on our way to Luca anyway! We'll buy the clothes for you there!"

"Oh okay," Piers smiled warmly at the blonde thief to which she blushed a little. Trying to hide it, she turned her back on him to avoid his warm red eyes.


End file.
